Trendforce said global devices in 2015 will be about 68.1 million units. Growth will rise 64 percent to 122 million units next year.

However the belief, often stated in the Tame Apple Press, that Jobs’ Mob would lift demand for smartwatches, provided untrue, the report said.

Analyst Jason Tsai said that Apple Watch hasn’t significantly lifted demand for smartwatches.

“Smart bracelets remain dominant in the wearables market. The industry is betting on wearable virtual reality technologies to be the main growth driver for next year.”

So why did Apple manage to shift nine million of the things? According to Tsai it was because Jobs’ Mob was able to use its branding to shift them. In fact for Apple nine million was pretty pants and well below the 42 million expected.

Tsai described Apple watches as “collectibles for Apple fans.” In the meantime, the market positioning of smartwatches is still unclear and provides too few reasons for people to buy them.

Smart bracelets, have staked out a clear position in the wearables market as fitness and sleep trackers. “Consumers buy them because of their functionality,” said Tsai.

“And this is why Fitbit, which is a lesser-known brand, is able to pull ahead of the pack of competing wearable vendors and beat several major brands in market share.”     

This is what we have been saying for the last two years.